A STUDY ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS TOWARDS INSTANT FOOD PRODUCTS IN SURAT CITY

CONSTRUCTS :
Consumer Byuying Behavior Instant food products

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF CONSTRUCTS: Consumer :

A consumer is a person or group of people who are the final users of products and or services generated within a social system. A consumer may be a person or group, such as a household. The concept of a consumer may vary significantly by context. Or An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale.

Buying behavior :
The behaviors displayed by consumers when they purchase things, such as their preferences, price points, perception towards different brands, perception about importance of particular attribute, previous experience etc.

Instant food products:

Instant food products which are prepared and packaged often in powered form are required only the addition of a liquid as water or milk for final preparation.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Referring to Solomon (2006, p.27) consumer behaviour is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products,

services, idea or experiences. Consumer behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources on consumption related items. That includes what they buy, why they buy,w hen they buy, w here the y bu y it, how often the y bu y it how o f ten th e y u s e it, how the y evaluate it after they purchase and the impact of such evaluations on future purchases, andhow they dispose it. Schiffman and Kanuk (2004, p.8) Kirti bardhan gupta (2009) has done research on Consumer Behaviour for Food Products in India he has found that consumer purchases food products on different criteria like Value for money, overall quality, taste, availability of variety of products at same place, seasonality for the product, flavour, good display of products, nearby availability and good ambience are some other important parameters. Promotional offer does not have much impact on the sale of food products and people did not rate food products from other country very highly for purchase decision. Although quality of food products is one of the most important parameters for food product purchase decision, people do not see much improvement in the quality related parameters for food items during the last ten years. Usha v. (2007) A STUDY ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS TOWARDS INSTANT FOOD PRODUCTS IN KOLAR DISTRICT The present study made an attempt to analyze the existing buying behaviour of Instant Food Products by individual households and to predict the demand for Instant Food Products in Kolar district. Housewives were the major decision makers on consumption of Instant Food Products. Most of the Dosa/Idli mix consumers found to be medium loyal and majority of pickles and Sambar masala consumers belonged to higher loyalty group. High price and poor taste were the reasons for not purchasing particular brand whereas best quality, retailers influence and ready availability were considered for preferring particular brand of products by the consumers. Ragavan (1994) reported that, quality, regular availability, price, accuracy in weighing and billing, range of vegetables and accessibility as the factors in the order of importance which had influenced purchase of vegetables by respondents from modern retail outlet. Sabeson (1992) in his study stated that, high quality, price and taste of the product were the major criteria based on which the consumers selected a brand of processed fruits and vegetable products. Puri and Sangera (1989) conducted a survey to know the consumption pattern of processed products in Chandigarh. Jam was found to be most popula,r irrespective of income.

Orange squash consumption was maximum in high and middle-income families.Pineapple juice consumption increased with a rise in the income. Jorin (1987) examined changes in spending power and buying habits of Swiss consumers since the beginning of the 20th century and in the more recent past. Current trends include greater emphasis on health and safety of foodstuffs and less attention to price, increased demand for low calorie light products and increased demand for organically grown foods. For young people, more concern with enjoyment and less for health, with more meals eaten away from home, and generally an increased demand for convenience foods. The prospects for high quality branded products are seen to be good. Kumar et al. (1987) examined the factors influencing the buying decision making of 200 respondents for various food products. Country of origin and brand of the products were crosstabulated against age, gender and income. Results revealed that the considered factors were independent of age, education and income. The brand image seemed to be more important than the origin of the product, since the consumers were attracted by the brands.

GAP FOR RESEARCH:

In todays fast moving world, where people do not have enough time to cook the proper food in their day to day life as more numbers of women are now doing jobs or business the scenario is changed also bachelors and unmarried people who lived far from home also will not get enough time to cook, so the Instant Foods like Maggi, Ready-to-Eat, MTR, Gitz etc play a very important role of satisfying customers. Different people have different views towards the Instant Food offered. So I decided to conduct a survey namely A STUDY ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS TOWARDS INSTANT FOOD PRODUCTS IN SURAT CITY. It was just to know the thinking of different people of society. Many people believe that it does not have proper nutritional value and may not be hygienic as it consists of preservatives while others may believe that their precious time is saved specially for those for whom spending time on cooking is a difficult issue. Thus there may be different people in the market having different attitude towards Instant Food. So I wanted to make an effort to cover as much as market possible to make my research

and report accurate. I also found that this type of research has not done in surat city so that will become main gap of the research.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Research Problem Statement:

A STUDY ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS TOWARDS INSTANT FOOD PRODUCTS IN SURAT CITY.

Research Objectives:
1. To study the extent of awareness towards Instant Food Products. 2. To analyze factors influencing the buying behavior of Instant Food Products. 3. To find out the criteria on which the consumers rely for making their purchase decision regarding instant food products. 4. To analyze brand loyalty for Instant Food Products, 5. To estimate demand potential for Instant Food Products

VARIABLES :
Quality Price Effect of environmental stimuli Effect of demographic profile Availability Effect of reference group Attitude towards brand

Type Of Research:

A research design specifies the method and procedure for conducting a particular study that aims to combine relevance to the research. Research designs are usually exploratory design. This is done on the initial stage. Exploratory design also consists of two parts:a. b. A descriptive research design A causal research design

For this project descriptive research design is chosen as it would give an exact idea of the present scenario.

SOURCES OF DATA

There are two sources of data. They are: a. b. Primary data Secondary data

The primary data has been used in the survey. For this questionnaire has been used as a tool of primary data collection. The method chosen is personal survey method. Individual doctors have been approached through personal survey which would increase the reliability of the data. Secondary data which has been used is various internet websites. But majorly primary data has been used.

DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

There are various ways to collect data i.e. Observation forms, questionnaire forms & experiment journals. The researcher have chosen questionnaire technique for data collection as it is the most favorable technique to collect data. Primary data will use in survey. For this the questionnaire is taken as a tool of primary data collection. The researcher have chosen the personal interview method for getting these

questionnaires filled. The researcher will approach individuals through personal survey which would increase the reliability of the data.

SAMPLING DECISION :

Once decided to conduct survey, there was a dilemma whether to do census survey or sample survey. Due to large population scattered in large geographical area and time and cost constraints, it was not possible to carry out census survey so sample survey has been conducted.
Sampling frame Surat city Sample size 300 respondents Sampling technique Sampling technique used is quota sampling which is non

probabilistic technique.
Sampling unit people of surat city

Analysis Plan
Tools used for data analysis is cross tabulation and various non parametric tests.

Benefit and scope of the studies

It helps in finding out the awareness of various consumers towards various brands which

would help in the improvement of the products. It will give the idea about consumers thinking about instant food products. It will also helps in understanding the various factors which affects the consumer buying

behavior of instant food products.

Limitation of the research

first limitation is the project time. The time duration of the project was less.

The sample frame was confined to Surat city only. The sample size is small as compared to the whole population. The information gathered may not reflect the perfect behavior of the respondent. Unwillingness of the respondents to response due to some or the other reason.